As of today, Blaise has been home for a week and I think we've all adjusted to the new situation. Our home nurse has checked in a couple of times and today we had our first visit to the pediatrician. You know, the regular one, whose office is 10 minutes from our house; he'd heard a lot about Blaise but never met her. The verdict is that we're all doing great. Photos of how great are here.
We're trying to get into the groove of "co-parenting." Blaise is not a candidate for group daycare, too high a risk of GI bugs and an unsurprising dearth of centers that are willing to take a kid with a g-tube. We can't afford a nanny, so Ben and I are trading off. I go to work in the morning and work from home in the afternoon and he works from home in the morning and then heads to lab in the afternoon. We had planned to take this first week home off and just find the home routine, but schedules at work were not so accomodating. It's a bit tiring, but it's also fun to both spend time with Blaise every day.
It's nice to feel normal(ish). After the appointment this afternoon, we went to the Au Bon Pain on the ground floor of our doctor's building. I gave Blaise her bottle while Ben ate a sandwich. It sounds really mundane, but it wasn't something we'd ever done before. Mundane is good. It's a bit of culture shock to go from the hospital, where everyone has tubes, to the real world, where most people have never seen a healthy baby with a tube. The little backpack for the enteral pump makes Blaise rather portable and I'm sure most people don't notice the line running from under her onesie to the basket under the stroller. Incidentally, she loves walks in the stroller, looking around and taking it all in. The world is such a big place!
2 comments:
So glad you are home and enjoying a bit of "normal" life. I am sure it's a lot more work at home than in the hospital but it's totally worth it. Parenting tag team style is the best way to get the job done but it really helps to train someone else to do care. I trained my mom and it was the best thing ever. I can actually take a quick trip out without having to put on a production of pumps and O2 tanks. I am so happy for you to be free of the hospital life.
Erin, Ben, I have been away from my computer and was thrilled to read your post on my return! Good thing I am not in Boston as it is hard enough controling my emotions half way across the country. How wonderful that you are all together under one roof as it was meant to be. This news has just brightened my entire week. Congratulation! When you put Blaise to bed tonight, please whisper in her ear that Vicki loves her and can not wait to rock her to sleep all the while reminding her ever so softly that she is so loved by many.
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